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Contax 645 Lenses on Leica S

monza

Active member
Leica Camera is pleased to introduce the Leica S-Adapter C which will be
available from this June. With this adapter, Contax 645 lenses can be used with
the Leica S (Typ 007), Leica S2 and Leica S2-P cameras. The adapter enables
owners of the Contax 645 system to switch effortlessly to the Leica S System.
 

peterv

New member
So, can anyone advise on the lenses? Which lenses can you recommend? How is the Apo-Makro-Planar 120/4?
 

monza

Active member
The lenses are all fantastic. Considering the price of the 70mm f/2.5, the 80/2 Planar + adapter is a no brainer. Heck, all the lenses are no brainers. :)
 

Guy Mancuso

Administrator, Instructor
Have to say this opens up the S2 even more and from a Pro seat that is damned exciting. We actually have systems thats plural folks of lenses to use on the S2. Thats a freaking great option to have.

I wonder if AF is actually faster on the S2 than it was with the old Contax 645 body??? Thats something for us to ponder
 

monza

Active member
One can get an entire set of 645 lenses for less than one Leica lens, and with AF and lens corrections, what's not to like?
 

Guy Mancuso

Administrator, Instructor
I could actually almost pull this off. I better duck I'm feeling a baseball bat floating over my head. LOL
 

thomas

New member
So, can anyone advise on the lenses? Which lenses can you recommend? How is the Apo-Makro-Planar 120/4?
the Apo-Makro Planar 4/120 is outstanding (see for istance here: Contax 645 ... scroll down).

Today I've started testing an IQ180 in Contax mount with these lenses:
4.5/45-90
3.5/35
3.5/55
2.0/80
4.0/120 (Makro)
2.8/140
They work all great (wide open of course only in the image center but the 2.0/80 is sharp to the egdes from f5.6). The Vario Zoom is weak at 90mm (but it's the same on my P45). Just did some first quick tests but things look really good. And when they work fine on an IQ180 they should also look good on a Leica S2.
I would say the 3.5/35 and the 4/120 are probably the best Contax 645 lenses... closely followed by the 3.5/55 and the 2.0/80. By now I haven't seen a really good copy of the 2.8/45 (very sharp in the center but not so great at the edges). The Zoom is super sharp in the range from 55-80 (but of course it's only f4.5 ... and it's heavy). Since I don't know the lenses longer than 140mm I can't comment and these ...
 

Mammy645

New member
I wonder if AF is actually faster on the S2 than it was with the old Contax 645 body??? Thats something for us to ponder
Well, the photographer quoted in the press release seems to think so. I wish Phase one would make an adapter like this, autofocus and aperture control is very impressive. Then again, it's $1950.
 

Guy Mancuso

Administrator, Instructor
Exactly what I was thinking since I believe it's the cam itself driving the AF and the Contax was slow
 

fotografz

Well-known member
One can get an entire set of 645 lenses for less than one Leica lens, and with AF and lens corrections, what's not to like?
Not for long ... :LOL:

At one time I had almost everything they made for the C645 ... including the ill fated electronic viewfinder :thumbdown:

IMO, the 35 has to much distortion ... hope Leica LR DAC type corrections can correct it like with the Hasselblad H lenses.

The 120/4 is great, but be aware it is MF.

The 80/2 is loaded with character .... it'll be interesting to see how it renders on the S2

The sleeper of the lot is the 55mm ... one of the few lenses that has beautiful OOF rendering front and back. Not many 55s made as it was one of the last lenses offered before Kyocera flipped the off button.

I'll believe the AF is faster when I see it with my own eyes ... it is pretty old AF motor technology, and the C645 couldn't find it own rear end with both hands ;) ... but maybe the more modern AF sensors in the S2/S will improve on it ... no big deal as the S2 has focus confirmation.

Damned, wish I had kept my 350/4 ... best long lens I ever used.

You know that Contax made a T/S bellows for the C645? My buddy has one.

- Marc
 

thomas

New member
IMO, the 35 has to much distortion ... hope Leica LR DAC type corrections can correct it like with the Hasselblad H lenses
Alpa Lens Corrector supports all Contax 645 lenses (Photoshop plugin, though).
Since the 3.5/35 is so sharp at the edges distortion correction works perfectly well.
 

thomas

New member
re AF speed...

Here's an old but still informative article about the Contax 645: Contax 645 - photo.net

WRT AF this quote is interessting:
The Contax system uses in-lens motors and rear/inner focusing whenever possible. So why is AF not blazingly fast?

First of all the Zeiss lenses are heavy. The Zeiss lenses for the Contax don't weigh any less than those for the Hasselblad and have the same manual focus feel. They all have stainless steel barrels and very solid construction, which , in the case of the Contax, come at the expense of AF speed.

The second reason, according to Contax in an interview with Asahi Camera magazine of Japan, has to do with AF precision. Contax has made a firm commitment to take precedence in image quality, and this commitment prompted them to produce an AF system that optimizes precision rather than speed.

According to Contax, they have optimized AF precision on three levels. Most AF SLRs on the market use a small number of linear or cross-type AF sensors, usually in a horizontal formation. Each sensor is made up of a few hundred pixels. The Contax 645 is the first AF SLR to use a 1/4 MILLION-pixel CCD for its AF system. The result is a true area sensor (i.e. no gap) with supposedly much higher AF measurement accuracy. Secondly, the AF motor in each lens is optimized for precision with extremely fine movement rather then speed. Lastly, in the case of 220 type films, the vacuum filmback ensures higher film flatness.

How much better is the resulting AF precision is not known without some testing, but there are indeed some compromises as a result. The AF motors being optimized for precision, comes short in speed as I said. Also, the choice of 1/4 million-pixel CCD, which means a lot more information needs to be processed, slows down AF a little more and adds to battery consumption. (This has been verified by Asahi Camera.)
 

Jorgen Udvang

Subscriber Member
Pragmatic and very smart move by Leica. Offering an integrated digital upgrade path for Contax owners will most likely tempt many to grab the opportunity, and there's little chance that they'll change back to the dead brand.
 

gfs

New member
Alpa Lens Corrector supports all Contax 645 lenses (Photoshop plugin, though).
Since the 3.5/35 is so sharp at the edges distortion correction works perfectly well.
Well, how the edges are doesn't really matter. The Leica S chip is 30x45mm, so it will never see the edges of any of these lenses.

The 35 becomes a 43 (x1.25)
 
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